Science news

• #RIPVine, long live stardom: Canadians who cashed in on Vine

  27-10-2016 23:47 via cbc.ca
  
  Twitter announced Thursday that it's killing off Vine 'in the coming months,' but the news isn't likely to stop those who launched their careers on the short-video platform.
  
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• Colombia delays peace talks with ELN rebels until captive freed

  27-10-2016 23:31
  Colombia is delaying peace talks with Marxist ELN rebels until they free a politician held captive for six months, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Thursday, as he struggles to salvage a peace deal with FARC guerrillas that was rejected in a plebiscite. The National Liberation Army (ELN), the nation's second-biggest insurgent group, must release Odin Sanchez to the International Committee of the Red Cross before talks can begin in Ecuador, Santos said, reiterating a condition he set months a
  
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• Meet George Jetson: Uber sees flying commuters in 10 years

  27-10-2016 23:30 via cbc.ca
  
  Flying commuters like George Jetson could be whizzing to work through the sky less than 10 years from now, according to ride-services provider Uber, which believes the future of transportation is literally looking up.
  
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• US asks to store nuke waste aboveground after leak shut dump

  27-10-2016 23:07
  ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy wants to clear away nearly two football fields of desert in southern New Mexico to use as temporary storage for containers of radioactive waste coming from around the country while it works to reopen the government's only underground nuclear waste repository.
  
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• Mars lander debris spotted

  27-10-2016 22:38
  
  The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter imaged the impact site of the Schiaparelli Mars lander, missing in action since its October 19 descent.
  
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• Scientists identify fossilized dinosaur brain tissue for first time

  27-10-2016 21:45
  
  LONDON (Reuters) - British and Australian scientists have identified an unassuming brown pebble, found more than a decade ago by a fossil hunter in southern England, as the first known example of fossilized dinosaur brain tissue.
  
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• Tougher than steel, lighter than cotton: spider webs are a scientific marvel

  27-10-2016 21:35 via cbc.ca
  
  Spiders tune their webs to detect what's on the other end of threads, researchers say.
  
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• [Working Life] Bullied out of research

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Rochelle Poole
  
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• [This Week in Science] Weaving an entangled cluster

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Ian S. Osborne
  
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• [This Week in Science] Upgrading CO2 with methane

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Phil Szuromi
  
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• [This Week in Science] Models and data: A two-way street

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: H. Jesse Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] Keeping white fat from expanding

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Wei Wong
  
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• [This Week in Science] Integration of adult-born brain cells

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Peter Stern
  
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• [Report] Super-dry reforming of methane intensifies CO2 utilization via Le Chatelier’s principle

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Efficient CO2 transformation from a waste product to a carbon source for chemicals and fuels will require reaction conditions that effect its reduction. We developed a “super-dry” CH4 reforming reaction for enhanced CO production from CH4 and CO2. We used Ni/MgAl2O4 as a CH4-reforming catalyst, Fe2O3/MgAl2O4 as a solid oxygen carrier, and CaO/Al2O3 as a CO2 sorbent. The isothermal coupling of these three different processes resulted in higher CO production as compared with that of convention
  
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• [Report] Senescent intimal foam cells are deleterious at all stages of atherosclerosis

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Advanced atherosclerotic lesions contain senescent cells, but the role of these cells in atherogenesis remains unclear. Using transgenic and pharmacological approaches to eliminate senescent cells in atherosclerosis-prone low-density lipoprotein receptor–deficient (Ldlr–/–) mice, we show that these cells are detrimental throughout disease pathogenesis. We find that foamy macrophages with senescence markers accumulate in the subendothelial space at the onset of atherosclerosis, where they d
  
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• [Report] Dissolved organic sulfur in the ocean: Biogeochemistry of a petagram inventory

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Although sulfur is an essential element for marine primary production and critical for climate processes, little is known about the oceanic pool of nonvolatile dissolved organic sulfur (DOS). We present a basin-scale distribution of solid-phase extractable DOS in the East Atlantic Ocean and the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Although molar DOS versus dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) ratios of 0.11 ± 0.024 in Atlantic surface water resembled phytoplankton stoichiometry (sulfur/nitrogen ~
  
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• [Report] Climate change: The 2015 Paris Agreement thresholds and Mediterranean basin ecosystems

  27-10-2016 21:31
  The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement of December 2015 aims to maintain the global average warming well below 2°C above the preindustrial level. In the Mediterranean basin, recent pollen-based reconstructions of climate and ecosystem variability over the past 10,000 years provide insights regarding the implications of warming thresholds for biodiversity and land-use potential. We compare scenarios of climate-driven future change in land ecosystems with recons
  
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• [This Week in Science] Wreaking havoc while (growth-)arrested

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Paula A. Kiberstis
  
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• [This Week in Science] Quantitation of metabolic pathway regulation

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: L. Bryan Ray
  
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• [This Week in Science] Plunging into a domain of silence

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Guy Riddihough
  
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• [This Week in Science] On the origin of Orientale basin

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Keith T. Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] Of chimpanzees and bonobos

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Laura M. Zahn
  
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• [This Week in Science] Metabolic support for T cell functions

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Kristen L. Mueller
  
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• [This Week in Science] Inventory of an essential marine element

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: H. Jesse Smith
  
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• [This Week in Science] How palynology was born

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
  
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• [This Week in Science] Combing through CO oxidation kinetics

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Jake Yeston
  
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• [This Week in Science] A warming limit for the Mediterranean basin

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Andrew M. Sugden
  
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• [This Week in Science] A touchy subject for neuroprostheses

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Caitlin Czajka
  
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• [This Week in Science] A dynamic view of the endoplasmic reticulum

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Authors: Stella M. Hurtley, Valda Vinson
  
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• [Research Article] Systems-level analysis of mechanisms regulating yeast metabolic flux

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Cellular metabolic fluxes are determined by enzyme activities and metabolite abundances. Biochemical approaches reveal the impact of specific substrates or regulators on enzyme kinetics but do not capture the extent to which metabolite and enzyme concentrations vary across physiological states and, therefore, how cellular reactions are regulated. We measured enzyme and metabolite concentrations and metabolic fluxes across 25 steady-state yeast cultures. We then assessed the extent to which flux
  
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• [Research Article] Increased spatiotemporal resolution reveals highly dynamic dense tubular matrices in the peripheral ER

  27-10-2016 21:31
  The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is an expansive, membrane-enclosed organelle that plays crucial roles in numerous cellular functions. We used emerging superresolution imaging technologies to clarify the morphology and dynamics of the peripheral ER, which contacts and modulates most other intracellular organelles. Peripheral components of the ER have classically been described as comprising both tubules and flat sheets. We show that this system consists almost exclusively of tubules at varying den
  
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• [Research Article] Deterministic generation of a cluster state of entangled photons

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Photonic cluster states are a resource for quantum computation based solely on single-photon measurements. We use semiconductor quantum dots to deterministically generate long strings of polarization-entangled photons in a cluster state by periodic timed excitation of a precessing matter qubit. In each period, an entangled photon is added to the cluster state formed by the matter qubit and the previously emitted photons. In our prototype device, the qubit is the confined dark exciton, and it pro
  
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• [Report] Xist recruits the X chromosome to the nuclear lamina to enable chromosome-wide silencing

  27-10-2016 21:31
  The Xist long noncoding RNA orchestrates X chromosome inactivation, a process that entails chromosome-wide silencing and remodeling of the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the X chromosome. Yet, it remains unclear whether these changes in nuclear structure are mediated by Xist and whether they are required for silencing. Here, we show that Xist directly interacts with the Lamin B receptor, an integral component of the nuclear lamina, and that this interaction is required for Xist-mediated sil
  
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• [Report] Using climate models to estimate the quality of global observational data sets

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Observational estimates of the climate system are essential to monitoring and understanding ongoing climate change and to assessing the quality of climate models used to produce near- and long-term climate information. This study poses the dual and unconventional question: Can climate models be used to assess the quality of observational references? We show that this question not only rests on solid theoretical grounds but also offers insightful applications in practice. By comparing four observ
  
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• [Report] Gravity field of the Orientale basin from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory Mission

  27-10-2016 21:31
  The Orientale basin is the youngest and best-preserved major impact structure on the Moon. We used the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft to investigate the gravitational field of Orientale at 3- to 5-kilometer (km) horizontal resolution. A volume of at least (3.4 ± 0.2) × 106 km3 of crustal material was removed and redistributed during basin formation. There is no preserved evidence of the transient crater that would reveal the basin’s maximum volume, but its diamet
  
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• [Report] Formation of the Orientale lunar multiring basin

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Multiring basins, large impact craters characterized by multiple concentric topographic rings, dominate the stratigraphy, tectonics, and crustal structure of the Moon. Using a hydrocode, we simulated the formation of the Orientale multiring basin, producing a subsurface structure consistent with high-resolution gravity data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft. The simulated impact produced a transient crater, ~390 kilometers in diameter, that was not maintained b
  
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• [Report] Direct frequency comb measurement of OD + CO → DOCO kinetics

  27-10-2016 21:31
  The kinetics of the hydroxyl radical (OH) + carbon monoxide (CO) reaction, which is fundamental to both atmospheric and combustion chemistry, are complex because of the formation of the hydrocarboxyl radical (HOCO) intermediate. Despite extensive studies of this reaction, HOCO has not been observed under thermal reaction conditions. Exploiting the sensitive, broadband, and high-resolution capabilities of time-resolved cavity-enhanced direct frequency comb spectroscopy, we observed deuteroxyl rad
  
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• [Report] Aerobic glycolysis promotes T helper 1 cell differentiation through an epigenetic mechanism

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect) is a metabolic hallmark of activated T cells and has been implicated in augmenting effector T cell responses, including expression of the proinflammatory cytokine interferon-γ (IFN-γ), via 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR)–mediated mechanisms. Here, we show that lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) is induced in activated T cells to support aerobic glycolysis but promotes IFN-γ expression independently of its 3′UTR. Instead, LDHA maintains high concentra
  
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• [Report] A disynaptic feedback network activated by experience promotes the integration of new granule cells

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Experience shapes the development and connectivity of adult-born granule cells (GCs) through mechanisms that are poorly understood. We examined the remodeling of dentate gyrus microcircuits in mice in an enriched environment (EE). Short exposure to EE during early development of new GCs accelerated their functional integration. This effect was mimicked by in vivo chemogenetic activation of a limited population of mature GCs. Slice recordings showed that mature GCs recruit parvalbumin γ-aminobut
  
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• [Policy Forum] Making climate science more relevant

  27-10-2016 21:31
  For nearly three decades, the central goal in international climate policy had been to set the political agenda—to engage all countries on the need for action. So long as that was the goal, it was sufficient for policy-makers to focus on simple indicators of climate change, such as global average surface temperature With the 2015 Paris Agreement, governments launched a process that can move beyond setting agendas to coordinating national policies to manage the climate. Next month in Marrakesh,
  
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• [Perspective] Warburg meets epigenetics

  27-10-2016 21:31
  We are all taught in biochemistry class that in the presence of oxygen, cells will use the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle to efficiently generate adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) via oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). However, in 1924, the biochemist Otto Warburg observed that cancer cells do not follow this rule (1, 2). In fact, even in the presence of oxygen, cancer cells will depend on glycolysis (so-called aerobic glycolysis) to inefficiently generate ATP from glucose. More recently, there
  
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• [Perspective] Versatile cluster entangled light

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Performing a quantum computation may seem complicated, but it can be done with a specially prepared beam of light and good photodetectors. On page 434 of this issue, Schwartz et al. (1) report on a prototype device that uses semiconductor quantum dots that generate long strings of photons in an entangled cluster state of light. Cluster states (2) carry a specific sort of entanglement—that is, the way in which the properties of different photons are correlated. In two dimensions—when the enta
  
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• [Perspective] The road to speciation runs both ways

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Some species, such as the giraffe or bottlenose dolphin, are immediately recognizable and might seem immutable. In fact, their evolutionary stories are often more complicated. Regional populations of giraffe with distinct pelage patterns have only recently been recognized as four different species (1), and the number of species represented by what we recognize as the bottlenose dolphin was historically as many as 20, refined down to one, then two, and the question is still being resolved (2). On
  
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• [Perspective] The fourth dimension of vegetation

  27-10-2016 21:31
  In July 1916, Swedish geologist Lennart von Post showed that by identifying and counting pollen preserved at different depths in Swedish peat bogs he could infer changes in forest composition through time (1–3). Following his pioneering work, pollen analysis quickly became established as a key tool for understanding past vegetation, climate, and ecosystems. Today, it is used widely to reconstruct past ecosystems and test hypotheses about drivers of ecosystem change.
  Authors: H. John B. Birks,
  
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• [Perspective] Putting the spotlight on organic sulfur

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Marine microbes are the engines that drive global biogeochemical cycling in the oceans. They produce and cycle a dissolved organic matter (DOM) reservoir that is roughly as big as the atmospheric carbon dioxide pool (1). Interactions between DOM and marine microbes may also play a key role in the evolving climate through changes in remineralization rates (2). Historically, DOM has been thought of mainly in terms of its carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus content. On page 456 of this issue, Ksionzek
  
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• [Perspective] A finer look at a fine cellular meshwork

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Students learning about the eukaryotic cell are taught that mitochondria are the powerhouse of the cell, the nucleus is the information storehouse, and lysosomes are the garbage disposal. Summing up the role of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is more problematic, even for professional cell biologists. Classically, the ER is where membrane proteins, secreted proteins, and most lipids are synthesized. It is also the site of calcium regulation. More recent work shows that it is the site of antigen p
  
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• [Letter] Save the world's primates in peril

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Authors: Bin Yang, James R. Anderson, Peng Zhang, Baoguo Li
  
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• [Letter] Adapting Chinese cities to climate change

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Author: Qinhua Fang
  
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• [In Depth] Mental health chief to stress neural circuits

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Last month, neuroscientist and psychiatrist Joshua Gordon, 49, took the helm of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the $1.55 billion NIMH is the world's largest funder of mental health research. Its new director spent the last 19 years at Columbia University completing a psychiatry residency, studying mouse models of psychiatric disease, and, once a week, seeing anxious and depressed patients in his private practice. Now, Gordon face
  
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• [In Depth] Mars lander crash adds to 2020 rover worries

  27-10-2016 21:31
  Engineers at the European Space Agency (ESA) are racing to figure out what went wrong with the Schiaparelli Mars lander. On 19 October, it seemed to drop out of the sky and crash to the surface less than a minute before its planned soft landing. A diagnosis is urgent because many of the same pieces of technology will be used to get a much bigger ExoMars rover down to the surface in 2020. More than engineering is at stake. If the ExoMars 2020 rover is to fly at all, ESA must persuade its 22 membe
  
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